1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a CD authoring system for quickly and inexpensively inputting, organizing and processing photo images corresponding to one customer order and then writing the processed photo images onto a CD-ROM while simultaneously beginning processing of a second customer order before the completion of writing the photo images for the first customer order to the CD-ROM.
2. Description of the Related Art
The advent of relatively inexpensive CD-ROM recording devices, often referred to as read-writable CD-ROMs, has allowed the photo processing industry to offer its customers the ability to receive their processed photographs on a CD-ROM, in addition to conventional media such as photo paper and floppy diskette. When read-writeable CD-ROM devices, hereinafter referred to as CD-recorders, initially became available, they were very expensive and somewhat difficult to use. Therefore, the authoring of a CD-ROM containing a customer's collection of photographs was typically done at a central photo processing facility having such a CD-recorder. Accordingly, local photo processing facilities, such as drugstores and local photography stores, had to send a customer order with the customer's images, either on film or on photo paper, to the central processing facility to be scanned, processed and then written to a CD-ROM via a CD-recorder.
Recently, the cost of quality CD-recorders has reduced drastically and they have also become more user-friendly. As a result, many local photo processing facilities, such as those mentioned above, have been able to purchase CD authoring systems for providing customers with a CD-ROM of their photo images in addition to conventional images on photo paper. Several manufacturers have developed CD authoring systems for use by local photo processing facilities and by other entities. For example, one such photo CD authoring system utilizes a single personal computer to obtain photo images from a source, such as a scanner or digital camera, to process the collected images and then to write the collected images to a CD-ROM via a CD-recorder. The use of a single personal computer to perform these tasks results in a CD authoring system which takes up less space within the local photo processing facility and which can be operated by a single operator.
Such a conventional single-PC CD authoring system utilizes the various interface buses of the PC to interface to the necessary peripheral devices which comprise the CD authoring system. For example, the central processing unit (CPU) of the PC is typically directly connected to four different types of interface buses including a host bus, a USB bus, a PCI bus and an IDE bus. In such a conventional, single-PC CD authoring system, the host bus is used to communicate the CPU with a random access memory (RAM), a mouse and a keyboard. The USB bus is used to communicate between the CPU and a printer and a digital camera. The PCI bus is used to connect the PC to a pointer pen for selection of functions on a display connected to the PC, and the PCI bus is also connected to a PCI-SCSI bridge which enables the PCI bus to communicate with peripheral devices on a SCSI bus. A SCSI bus is utilized because it is a high-speed interface and therefore is desirable to support connection of peripheral devices to the PC which require higher-speed data transfer rates. Therefore, in a typical CD authoring system which is comprised of a single PC, a SCSI bus is utilized to connect a scanner, such as a film scanner or a flatbed scanner, and a CD-recorder to the PC. The IDE bus is utilized to connect the CPU to the disk storage medium of the PC, such as a hard disk.
In such a CD authoring system as described above, photo images are input to the PC by scanning them on the scanner which is connected to the PC via the SCSI bus. In the alternative, photo images may be brought into the PC by a digital camera via the USB bus. The CPU then processes the collected photo images as desired by an operator using a mouse, keyboard and pen, and the processed photo images are then collected and written to a CD-ROM provided in the CD-recorder which is connected to the PC by the SCSI bus. In this manner, an operator utilizing the CD authoring system comprised of a single PC is able to process a customer order, typically corresponding to a roll of film, from the initial step of scanning to the final step of completed writing of the processed photo images to the CD-ROM. After one customer order is completed in this fashion, the operator can then begin the processing for the next customer order. Therefore, a local photo processing facility is able to utilize a single operator to operate the CD authoring system in order to provide CD-ROM photo service to its customers.
Such a conventional CD authoring system may take at least seven to ten minutes for an operator to complete the authoring of a CD-ROM containing the photo images for one customer order. This is because the time to scan a roll of film may typically take about three minutes, the time to process the images, such as color correction, rotation and cropping, may take approximately two to five minutes, and the time to write all of the processed photo images to a CD-ROM by the CD-recorder may take approximately two minutes. Such a CD authoring system as described above has the drawback that an operator of the system must simply stand by idle while the CD-recorder is writing the photo images for one customer to the CD-ROM and cannot start the CD authoring process for the next customer order until the photo images for the first customer order have been written to the CD-ROM successfully. This time constraint exists because a SCSI bus can only support communication between the PC and one peripheral device at a time.
For example, when a scanner which is connected to the SCSI bus is scanning-in a role of film, the PC cannot communicate with the CD-recorder which is also connected to the PC by the SCSI bus. In the alternative, when the CD-recorder is being utilized by the PC to write the photo images for a customer order to a CD-ROM, the PC cannot communicate with the film scanner on the SCSI bus to scan the photo images corresponding to the next customer order. CD authoring systems, as described above, are often used in local photo processing facilities which operate in a high-volume environment requiring the operator of the CD authoring system to create CD-ROMs for a large number of customer orders as quickly as possible in order to provide a fast and efficient photo service for the customer. Therefore, the inability of the operator to begin a new customer order on the CD authoring system until the previous customer order has been completely and successfully written to the CD-ROM results in increased time to complete the customer orders.
Although SCSI interfaces existed which allowed parallel communication with multiple peripheral devices, they were not beneficial for use in the aforementioned CD authoring systems. This is because communication over the SCSI parallel interface is shared between the multiple peripheral devices on an as-needed basis. As a result, it was not possible to guarantee a constant rate of data transfer over the SCSI between the computer and a peripheral device, such as a CD-recorder, when another peripheral device, such as a scanner, was in use. Communication errors may also arise during the use of multiple peripheral devices in such a parallel SCSI environment. In this regard, system timing is critical during the recording of a CD-ROM, otherwise errors may frequently occur in the recording process due to lost data. Accordingly, the use of a parallel SCSI interface for connecting multiple peripherals in a CD authoring system was not desirable because of the lack of a constant data transfer rate between the computer and the CD-recorder.
In addition to the increased time, the foregoing constraint of the conventional single-PC CD authoring system also generates confusion on the part of the operator because the operator may forget that a previous customer order is still being written to the CD-ROM as the operator attempts to scan-in pictures for a new customer order, thereby frustrating the operator and possibly causing errors with the CD authoring system. In addition, there may be confusion on the part of the operator because the operator may forget which customer order a previously-written CD-ROM corresponds to as the operator begins processing for a new customer order, especially if the previous customer order was not successfully written to a CD-ROM.
Accordingly, what is needed is a CD authoring system which utilizes a single PC, but which has improved efficiency and reduces operator confusion.